Council climate inaction: ‘later’ risks being ‘too late’

Today, European Heads of State and Government met to debate the EU climate and energy framework for 2030. As expected, the European Council aimed low by only welcoming the Commission's white paper as a good basis for work, and delaying real decisions until “October at the latest”.

For WWF, this result adds insult to injury: the Commission has watered down ambition in order to win Council approval, which the Council is reluctant to give.

This continued reluctance to make clear decisions may well undermine the EU’s global standing and create a negative dynamic in international climate discussions, including at the UN Summit on Climate Change in September.

Commenting on today’s European Council outcome, Tony Long, Director of WWF European Policy Office, said:

“By failing to make clear decisions today, EU leaders have put themselves in the back seat of global climate negotiations. They ignored calls from their citizens for greater climate action and are delaying Europe’s needed transition towards an industrial and economic revolution that will provide for both people and the planet.

Once again, our leaders downgraded climate and energy discussions to the bottom of the agenda. It seems they are incapable of addressing both immediate and longer term issues in one meeting. This approach may lead us to find soon that “we’ll do it later” has become “we are too late”.